The present invention relates generally to an exercise device and more particularly to a device that maintains the location of weight on and allows easy handling of an exercise bar.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that physical therapy is an extremely important part of care for the elderly. However, in many cases, the elderly or infirm have little interest in such activities and are difficult to motivate. Further, care must be taken so that the activities do not do more harm than good. One typical activity is a range of motion exercise which the therapist uses to increase the patient's flexibility, strength and mobility. This exercise requires the patient to lift their arms or legs, rotate the arms or legs and pull against resistive pressure. In practice, therapist often use a broom, broom handle, or stick for the patient to grip while performing these type of exercises. As the patient grows stronger, the therapist will hold the broom, etc. and increase the resistive pressure experienced by the patient. However, there is a need to have a device designed specifically to assist the therapist is this procedure. There are numerous barbell type devices on the market and disclosed in the prior art, but none of them meet the needs of therapist adequately in assisting with these type exercises.
The state of the art is generally described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,209,465 issued to A. Matysek, 3,588,102 issued to L. Gifford, 3,756,597 issued to L. Monti, 4,043,553 issued to R. Suarez, 4,440,391 issued to A. Saenz, Jr., et al., 4,623,146 issued to B. Jackson, 5,125,649 issued to C. Fuller.
Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 3,588,102 issued to L. Gifford on Jun. 28, 1971 discloses two outer bars each connected to an inner section. This allows the length of the rod to be adjusted. However, this device fails to recognize the need to limit the weight of the bar to the middle, to visually color the device so that it is interesting to the elderly or infirm, and to provide for easy cleaning and having dual handles to provide for an outer and inner grip.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,756,597 issued to L. Monti on Sep. 4, 1973 discloses another attempt. However, the Monti device also places the weight on the outer extremes. Further, the users are encouraged to use only one style of grip because of placement of handles. Also, Monti fails to recognize the need to make the device visually interesting.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a device which is easily taken apart for cleaning. This needed device must prevent the user's hands from being injured. This needed device must be capable of placing weight in the middle of the bar for easy balance. This needed device should encourage both an outer and inner grip. This needed device must be visually interesting. This needed device must have soft round surfaces to prevent injury to the user. This needed device is presently lacking in the prior art.